Steel hatch cover for ships



Sept. 29, 1931. R. M GREGOR STEEL HATCH COVER FOR SHIPS Filed Oct. 22. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheer 1 'Sept. 29, 1931. R. M GREGOR STEEL HATCH COVER FOR SHIPS Filed Oct, 22. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 29, 193i ncnnnrmacenneoa or rionnonfnnenann,nssrenoa mo 'maceaneoaa xme nmimamor'LoNno-mnnemnn,n'commmyflor*eannrB ITAIN srnnn nzarcnicovna rea sures fAppHcati'on *i1ed1'0to'beri22,1930; Seria1=No. 490;349,-|md in Great Britain'November 8, 1929.

:This; invention relates to ships: hatch :covers afor hatches of "the class wherein the coamin-g walls upstand fr-om the deck, and concerns fcovers oi the kind arranged slide :55 onntowandffrom the-hatch. It isknown in connectiomwith such covers .to pro vid e rollers thereon arrang edTto roll along thewhatch coaming, {and stich preferably also are embodie'dqin the presentuinvention. i I-Iithereto-, unless the hatch covers when slid @oif the hatch were; lowered aon to the gdeck-or stood ;up 1 oni end, with consequent difi s ty; fh ngaa1 d use --h0i$t appanatusin the case of large covers, it has beennecessaryto provide. supportingmeans mounted-upon the deckoutside. ottheihatch area,to? receive and: supportthe covers when I 1; H .The present-invention however has in V ew to provide a hatch cover with', means inre r te {therewith --l r.; urr e t ."cover-ttrona.thealeck whenslidofi the hatch, soithat' when the-.coverlis slid back into position @110 cumbersome supporting means is .ifllleft upon Lthe deck which wouldbe likely to cause obstruction. t

The present invention therefore consists,

sbroadly .speahing in the provision of downwarldly extending supporting vmeans on an end of the cover,.arranged"to3 travel upon the deck and supportathe :cover ;during".the slid- .ing rnovements thereof;

ln order that my nvention maybe. read views of" a modification of the construction 'shown inFigures 1 and'2. a v V i iFig uresdand' 7 "are sectional andfront zviewsidf the rollers employed showing: the eccentric moi'n'i'ting thereof as herein-after described.

"In Fiig 'l e 1v thedottedlinesindieate the il' ,understoodl will now describethe same Figures 3, {and 15 are diagrammatic side 1 and2, as shown inFigure 3.

positions of the covers whenfimoved clear ofthe hatch. l f i' Referringto Figures 1 andQofthedrawingsthe complete covercomprises a pa'ir of cover plates 1,-2 each adapted to coverone half of 'the hatch .opening and to be "drawn o'ifin opposite directions, said plates abut ting one another when the hatch .is closed. Each of the said cover plates atits outer end is formed or "furnished with apair of m extension arms 3, conveniently ,in line with the side or end outer frames of the coveras shown, and, to each. of said arms issecured a vertical downwardly extending leg 4 which, at its lower end is furnishedkwith a 605 rollerJ5. I Track' rails '6 are affixed upon .the deck, upon which the rollersT5 of the legs 4 are adapted to travel.

Each cover, plate, near its Iinner end, is furnished with a pair or r(')llers,},'7v adapted to roll along the top surfaces of the hatch coaming or 1 upon external flanges affixed thereto andibyilthe I combination of the noll ers Sand? the covers are supported atboth 15 ends by'a rolling contact, ensuring easy movement. 1 v

The extensionqarms 8-o'f the covers con- ,veniently may consist :of integral portions or theframes thereon. 3 i

In' the modification illustrated iniFigures '3, 4 and '5, a stepped form of hatch coaming is provided and a pair ofcover membersfll and 2 "with. means for supporting them 'from the deck as above describedyare'adapted .to travel along the lower :portions 8 nofvithe stepped coaming-soias to cover outer portions of the hatch area. i

-=.Other cover plates 9,10 also'are provided,

.thes ebeingof simple formand furnished 190 with rollers .11 whichare adaptedto travel along the upper portions 12 ofthe coaniing',

so thatsaid-jp'lates 9 "and'lfl serve,-in conjunction withjorie anothen-to cover the space I between the inner edges :of theitwo plates os The plates lfland'2',w-hen in covering p' os'itions, have theirtop surfaceslevel with thetop portions12 of the coaming so that when the plates 9. and 1 0 are1noved 'jtowards;the 1m} need not be disturbed. If it is, however, re-.

quired to have the entire hatch 'area open,

7 then the plates 1 and 2 with the plates 9 and 10 disposed on them, are slid along in out? Ward direction to the positions shown in Figure 5.' It will be 'understood'therefore that there is a minimum amount of transverse space taken up on the deck in this case. Although the hatch covers are described as arranged to .slide 011' in a direction athwartships they may also be arranged to slide off in a fore and aft direction. F urther, in the case of a small hatch the cover may consist of a single plate only, having four rollers, twoof which are provided on downwardly-extending supports at one end of the hatch so as to roll upon the deck and.

the others arranged to roll upon the hatch c am g- If desiredthe downwardly-extending sup ports 4 may be attached to the cover plate or plates in such a manner as to be readily detachable therefrom, so that the platebr plates can then beq'lifted and placed fiat on any'suitable surface or upon one another without having awkward projections, this beingadvantageous in the case where'the de'ckcargo prevents the plates being rolled aside. In this case, or as an alternative construction the legs 4 may be pivotally attached to thecover plate'or platesso as to fold over thereonto into the area thereof as shown by dotted lines in Figure 1 to permit stowing of the plate or plates in this fashion.

Further the track rails 6 on the deck may be entirelydispensed with by providing an extra pair of rollers on the cover for travelling onthe hatch coaming; in this case the cover is guided solely by the pairs of rollers travelling on said coaming rendering deck railsunnecessary for this purpose,'the rollers 5 then simply rolling upon the deck.

' In the case of either of the constructions illustrated, any suitable jointing means incorporating packing may be provided along the JOlnt or oints between the covers, for

instance a channel bar on one cover may house into zed or other suitably shaped bar on the other cover, vertical tapered pins being driven into corresponding aperturesin the two bars and serv ng to draw same together on to packing insertedbetween them. This is only one example, however, of any suitable form of jointthat maybe employed and therefore is not illustrated in the acoompanying drawings.

Each of the rollers 5, 7 and llp'rovided, is

I claim: 1

mounted to rotate about a bush which itself is eccentrically mounted on a spindle, so that when the said bush is partially rotated by the operator, the complete hatch cover can be caused to drop andcome to bear on the hatch coaming so thatv a tightljoint is formed therewith, the rollers'being entirely relieved of the weight of the cover until such time as it isdesired .to move the cover. agaimwhen thelsaid bushes are turned back by the operator to raise the cover with respectto the axes of the rollers.

The construction whereby this object is achieved is illustrated'in Figures (Sand 7 which refer to the mounting of the rollers 5, although it is to be understood that the same construction applies to the rollers! and 11 which travel on the hatch coaming, in which case the part indicated by. reference 4 must be regarded as being theside of one of theplates 1, 2, 9 or 10.

The part 4 (in this case one of the de pending legs) has formed therewith or se:

cured thereto a spindle "13 upon which is i hexagonal shape or other non-circularffor mation which isadapted to receive a spanner or actuating lever17, or 'said'leve'r '17 7 may be formed integrally with saidbush.

It will be followed that a partial rotag tion of the bush 14' by way of lever 1.7 in one particularidirection Wlll lower the leg 4 and consequently the cover plate whereby the latter will seat'firmly on the hatch coammg, whereas turning back of said lever will again raise the cover plate to enable. i to be moved.

1. In a ships hatchfthe combination of a stepped-topped hatch coaming,', cover plates adapted to slide along loweristep portions of said stepped top andha'ving their upper surfaces flush with an upper portion of said stepped top,and other cover plates adapted to reside on said upper 'por- 'tion of the stepped top and to slideon to the covers onthe lower, steps isoas' to reside thereon in superimposed fashion, v, 2. In a sliding cover of theclass set forth for a ships' hatch, having'rollers adapted to travel along theooaining walls, and

downwardly extending supports means on the'end of each cover provided with a roller adapted to roll along the deck of the vessel, the combination with each roller of a, bush forming a bearing for the roller, ec-

centrically mounted upon a spindle] and adapted to be partially rotatedto raiseand lower the cover. I

The combination-With a ships hatch embodying coaming wallsupstanding from the deck, of a slidable cover and wheeled supports extending down from the cover to engage the deck, said wheeled supports being formed on legs extending from the lead- 3 ing edge of the cover and lying at right angles to the direction of-travel of said cover, said supports constituting the sole support on the deck for the cover in the open position, the transverse edges of the cover being provided with wheels to run on the coaming. i

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specificationat London, England this second day of October, 1930.

. ROBERT MACGREGOR. 

